Continuous filling and packaging machine



Oct. 2, 1945. H. F. WATERS 2,385,897

. CONTINUOUS FILLING AND PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 4, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Hang I. 11 225305,

Oct. 2, 1945. I 1 ER 2,385,897

CONTINUOUS FILLING AND PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Filed Sept. 4, 1942 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR Y J'maCWML Q: 7mm

ATTORNEY Patented 2,19

" com-muons FILING-AND rscnamo r: ween. mimics. Y.

Application September aiuasen l No. 457,200 scmm-Qwtas-sr I type and'the present invention aims to provide certain improvementstherein. The invention is particularly directed to the packaging of one or more small articles either singly or in bulk, and is especially adapted for pulverulents or granular material, and with'the proper suitable material, 7

liquids and wet contents may be packaged. The machine may have a gravity feed or may have a measured quantity feed, depending upon the product to be packaged.

One of the main objects of the present inven tion aims to provide a far superior sealed package than is now thought to be produced on the presenttype of machinery.

Heretofore-packages were made with the longitudinal seam overlapping with the inside surface overlying the outside surface and heat sealed by crimping which produced a, very inferior seal, since only one fusible face seals against a nonfusible face, and each end of the package which was sealed, cirmped or corrugated would permit the pulverized contents to sift out through the ends thereof, and as for vacuum packaging of these packages with the present type of seals, it is practically impossible to prevent leakage.

The present invention obivates these difficulties, by providing a continuous sheet of preferably thermoplastic material formed around a preferably tubular filling hopper, so that the longitudinal marginal edges of said sheet will have face to face contact of fusible material to form a fin on the'tube, which when heat sealed and folded down against the tube will produce a gas tight seal. After the longitudinal fin seal is made, a transverse gas tight heat seal is formed transversely of the tube intermittently thereof, to form a chain of individual integral packages. The packages when filled and vacuumed will be liquid proof, gas proof, and durable in structure and will withstand an enormous amount of abuse without sifting or rupturing.

The drawings presented herewith in the present application illustrate more or less diagrammatically the improvements of the present invention and is thought that those skilled in the art may readily apply these improved features to packages or groups 'ent'No. 1,986,422, and in the the machines shown in the patent to Zwoyer,'Pat- Other objects and advantages of'the present. f

invention will be obvious as brought out in the following specification and claims.

Reference will be had to the accompanyin drawings forming a part of this specification, in

inwhich: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation of the present'invention; v

- Fig. 2 is a continuation of the bottom portio of Fig. 1; I

Fig.3 is a modified form of aplurality of packages: 1 r 1 Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view of Fig. 3:

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view on the line 88 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 11 of Fig. l;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 1;

the present type of machinery, as for example,

which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic front elevation of a modified form of sealin the package;

, Fig. 10 is a cross section on the line lO-lll of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a front elevation of another modified form of sealing the package, and

Fig. 12 is a cross section on the line l2-'-l2 of Fig. 11.

Referring to the drawings, wherein I haveshown, by way of illustration merely, a, roll ID of preferably thermoplastic material, or any other suitable fusible material, which will lend itself to heat sealing, and in some instance packagesnot requiring heat sealing, or vacuum sealing, we may use an inferior material with a suitable adhesive to close the longitudinal seams and may also use adhesive or heatseal on the transverse seams.

To fabricate a finished package, with the present invention, a sheet of suitable material I 0 is urged patent to Maxiield,

side surface of the former plate l3, and a roller l3 so that in passing beyond the former plate l3 the two marginal edges l4 and I1 will be in regaround the mandrel l2 by means of a pair of rubber clamps or any other suitable means not shown. After the material passes from the bottom of the forming plate l3, it then passes over a resilient and preferably rubber anvil l9, which is embedded in the tubular mandrel l2 so that its surface will be substantially flush with the outside surfac'e of the mandrel l2.

A projection 22 on a heat sealing bar 20 directly over the anvil it will operate with suitable mechanism to press the marginal edges l4 and I! of the material l into a groove 2| in the resilient anvil l3, so that the marginal edges l4 and I1 will be heat sealed at" and the material 10 will then become a tube. After the longitudinal seam is heat sealed the material which we shall now describe as a tube, is led downwardly over the lower end of the mandrel l2, which at this point is much wider, as shown in Figures 1, 5 and 6, to accommodate a vacuum pipe 23, lying close to the outer edge 24 of the mandrel l2 for purposes of evacuating the air from a package P after it has been filled and heat sealed transversely on the bottom thereof by the heat sealing bar 21 and the anvil 43, which have ridges and grooves thereon similar to the heat sealing bar 20 and anvil l9. To

bottom thereof an integral right angle transverse heat sealing unit 36, for sealing the three' heat seal lines 28, 29, and 30 on the tube or material Ill. The packages P are fed down in the same way as heretofore described for the preferred form shown in Figure 1 and they are also punched out at the edges to form open ended tubular portions at the top of each package and severed in prevent leakage of air, at the bottom of the man- I drel l2 during the evacuating process, I provide a pair of squeeze rollers 12 to hold the material [0 in close contact with the edges of the mandrel l2. when the package P is evacuated of atmosphere, the tube In is then flattened as shown in Figure 7 between two resilient members 25 and 26, which are grooved out to accommodate the pipe 23 and the surrounding material It. These members 25 and 23 are adapted to be separated while the package passes through, and brought together to form a tight seal on the material III, while the evacuating of air from the package takes place.

The transverse heat sealing bar 21 has three heat sealing projections 23, 23 and '30 respectively, which all seal simultaneously across the tube. When the package P or tube is transversely sealed it is then urged downwardly in registry with a pair of cut out dies 3|, as shown in Figure 2 which clip off the edges of the flattened tubular portion at the top of each package for the purpose of which will be hereinafter described. After this is accomplished, the package will then move to the cut-oif or severing station indicated at 32 in Figure 2 and if it is desired to sever individual packages, the knives 33 may operate in unison with the transverse heat sealing mechanism, but if it is desired to of seal shown in Figure 9, shows the material l0 wrapped around the mandrel l2 so that the mar the same way.

The modification shown in Figure 11 also operates in the same way as the preferred form shown in Figure l with the exception that the package P will have a different type of seal thereon. In this form the longitudinal heat sealing element 35 does not have the bottom transverse heat sealing element 36 thereon for the reason that the fin, after it leaves the heat sealing bars 35, is then folded upon itself by a former plate 31 to overlie the tube [0 where it is then led down to a separate transverse heat sealing unit 36 which, in this case, seals across the tube and also the folded portion of the fin.

It will of course be understood that the fin, when folded over upon itself, if desired may be adhesively sealed to the major portion of the package. The general operation of the machine is as follows:

Inasmuch as I have referred to the tubular portion 12 as a mandrel it will be understood that it is also a feeding tube for the material which is to be fed into the package.

In Fig. 1, I have shown the mandrel broken away, but in practice on a finished machine it is led up to a hopper which automatically feeds the material down by gravity or forced feed, de-

pending upon the product to be packaged. The transverse heat sealing bar 30 first seals and closes the bottom of the tubes shown by the heat sealing line 28 formed across the tube "I so that the product may be fed into the tube as. the tube is descending down the mandrel l2. After the bottom of the package reaches the position shown by the numeral 2 in. Figure 1, the product is then in the tube and the jaws 25 and 26 will then come into play to squeeze the two sides of the tube as shown in Figure 7 so that the package may be readily evacuated of air, and gas may be introduced therein as desired for the purpose of preserving the contents therein.

After the package is evacuated and sealed again at the top it is then moved down to the position shown by the numeral 3 in Figure 2 where the marginal edges are cut out to form an open ended tubular portion 38 as shown in Figure 4. The purpose of this tubular portion 38 is to permit the purchaser of the package to pass this tube over a small rod for purposes of displaying the a package to the consumer. These packages may be eflicient package which has heretofore been unknown on a machine of this character, and any fusible material on the inside and flexible sheets of suitable material on the outside thereof, several of which may be adhesively laminated or they may be separated.

I also propose to use this machine for making individual envelopes by utilizing the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 with the exception that the filling mechanism will be shut off and the package P is transversely severed on the line EE of Fig. 2 simultaneously with the knives 33, thereby severing the package P in half, and producing two individual envelopes sealed on three sides.

In packaging mixed products, I may provide a partition 50 in the mandrel l2 which will divide the feeding tube into two feeding chambers 5| and 52 to introduce different kinds of material into the package P, wherein it will mix.

It will of course be understood that the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 may be duplicated on the machine for increasing quantity production, and the mandrel [2 may be a separate tube surrounding the filling tube in the event We do not choose to vacuum the packages.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. In a continuous package making and filling machine, the combination which comprises a filling tube over which web material is drawn, means for wrapping the web material around said tube, forming means including a U-shaped plate and a cooperating disc for bringing the longitudinal margins of said web material together to form a fin-type seam folded back upon itself, means for heatsealing said margins while in such position to form a tube, means for transversely sealing said tube at spaced intervals to form a plurality of packages, and means for severing a predetermined number of packages from the web.

2. In a continuous package making and filling machine, the combination which comprises a tubular hopper, means for guiding a web of laminated heat-scalable material around said hopper, means including a U-shaped former plate and a cooperating disc for bringing the longitudinal margins of said web into face to face position to form a fin-type seam folded back upon itself. longitudinal heat-sealing means for bending said margins while in such position to form a tube, transverse heat-sealing means for applying pairs of parallel-spaced transverse seams to the flattened tube at spaced intervals, andmeansfor severing individual packages between the said pairs of transverse seams from said tube.

3. In a continuous package making and filling machine, the combination whiclji comprises an elongated filling hopper, means for guiding a web of heat-scalable material around said hopper to bring its longitudinal marginal edges into contact, means for heat-sealing said marginal edges to form a tube, transverse heat-sealing means for applying pairs of parallel-spaced transverse seams to the flattened tube at uniform intervals thereby to define packages separated by sealed narrow interspaces, means for opening the lateral ends of said interspaces, and means for severing the individual packages having an open transverse tube at one end adapted to be slipped over a peg for storage and display.

4. In a continuous package making and filling machine, the combination which comprises a tubular filling hopper, means for guiding a web of heat-scalable material around said hopper to bring its longitudinal marginal edges into face to face contact, means including a longitudinal and a pair of parallel-spaced transverse heat-sealing bars for heat-sealing said marginal edges and providing a pair of transverse seams in a single heat-sealing operation thereby defining packages separated by sealed transverse interspaces, means for cutting open the lateral ends of said interspaces, and means for severing individual packages having an open transverse tube at one end thereof adapted to be slipped over a peg for storage and display of the package.

5. In a continuous package making and filling machine, the combination which comprises a tubular filling hopper, means for guiding a web oi heat-sealable material around said hopper tr bring its longitudinal marginal edges into face t1 face contact, means including an inverted F shaped heat-sealing bar for applying a longitu dinal seam to said marginal edges and a pair c closely parallel-spaced transverse seams in a sin gle heat-sealing operation thereby defining pacli ages separated by sealed transverse interspace means for cutting open the lateral ends of sa. interspaces, and means for severing individu packages having an open transverse tube at 02 end thereof adapted to be slipped over a peg f storage and display of the package. I

HARRY F. WATERS. 

